Sept 28 & 29 Long

September 28th & 29th

On Saturday morning, after a night of sleeping in the wilds of the White Mountains, my friend Stephanie and I woke up alive!  This was the expected outcome, of course.  I can't say that I slept through the night, or well, but I wasn't kept awake by noises.  It was mostly a pain in my lower back, probably from falling on Thursday, that made it hard to stay asleep.  The forest was much quieter than I expected.  I expected to hear critters of varying sizes making noises and wandering by.  I could have slept through noises, but when I was awake, I heard very little.  There wasn't even much of a breeze.  Anyhow, here are some other happy and not so happy things from Saturday and Sunday:

We got up and out of our tents around seven-ish Saturday morning.  It took about two hours to get the bear bag (which appeared untouched), eat breakfast, and repack all our stuff before we were ready to continue our trek.  This was longer than I think either of us thought it would take.  It was good to not rush this.  The area looked as it did when we got there, so that was very good.

Mountain Pond was lovely.  The water was still and reflected the colorful trees with perfection.  I'm pretty sure we saw a heron take off through the trees, over the pond.  Most of the trail was just far enough from the water that there were trees and bushes between us and the pond.  If I ever make it back to Mountain Pond, I think I would camp at the first site we saw.  It was closer to the water, which might have meant lots of morning dew.  It had a little less tree coverage which would have made for some nice star gazing.  There is also the possibility of that fine fog that sometimes sets over a pond.  I'm really happy with where we ended up, though.  

The hike back to the car was slightly more challenging then the hike to where we camped.  There were some boulders to maneuver around or over and a stream to cross.  We saw some people who were out for a morning hike along the trail. 

Our next stop was a rest area.  The building had a scenic overlook and a raised-relief map of the area.  In the picture, I'm pointing to where we camped.  The rest area also had a bunch of information on the weather.  We ate our lunches there looking towards the view.  This is where I decided I will need something other than chicken for a protein.  

Mountain Pond

Then we headed for Kearsarge North.  There are two Kearsarge Mountains in New Hampshire, so the north and south designations are important.  Kearsarge North no longer has a fire tower.  Instead it has an observation tower.  It was 3.1 miles to the top.  We had a hard turn around time of 3:30.  According to this website, there is a 2600 foot elevation gain in that 3.1 miles.  What all that means is that we rested, a couple times, on the way up.  A little after 3 PM I told Stephanie to go on ahead.  We were close enough that I knew she could make it.  At least one of us had to.  Off she went.  I kept on going with my slow, careful pace.

There was a point when I looked ahead and would have sworn the trail ended at a ledge and I must have strayed off the right path.  I walked closer to find that the path went down into a small, mini canyon and back up the other side.  I kept going.  It seemed like a long time since I had seen a yellow trail blaze, but I kept going.  Eventually I saw some people coming down.  They confirmed that I was on the right trail and kept going.  Stephanie texted me that she had reached the top, I kept going.  Eventually my 3:30 alarm went off, our hard turnaround time.  Stephanie messaged me, wondering if I had reached the stone stairs yet.  I told her I had, and she said that I was almost there and to keep going.  I did.  Eventually I made it to the top.  It was beautiful.  We didn't stay long and were headed back down the mountain around 4 PM.  

Going down is always faster than going up.  We didn't have any lengthy stops.  We saw other people headed up.  You can stay in the glass observation tower.  I hope they got there safely.  We reached the bottom after the sunset, but before it was too dark to need the flashlight.  Yay!

This is the area that was like a mini canyon.

The other side of the mini canyon. 

Sunset

At the car I searched for my battery pack.  I had used it on the way up when we stopped for a snack, then packed it away.  My phone was mostly dead and I wanted to write some thoughts down.  I still could charge it in the car at that point, but where was my battery pack?  

We stopped for dinner at 5 Guys.  Stephanie used her phone to take some notes about our weekend and what we learned and emailed it to me.  We ate and headed home.  It was a long and tiring day.

-----

Sunday, after I slept in, I pulled anything that I thought might be damp out of my backpack and draped the things around the living room to dry.  I emptied out most of my day pack and didn't find the battery pack.  I briefly considered dropping any plans I had for the day, driving back up north, climbing to where we had our snack and I had briefly charged my phone, and coming home.  I decided that was too much to do for a battery pack that cost around $50.  I hoped that someone found it who needed it and would put it to good use.

So I sat around all day.  😉

My cousin (from my dad's side) in Massachusetts was having a family gathering today, so I drove there instead.  It was really good to sit around and visit with family.  It has been a while since I've made it to one of the get-togethers that happen about once a quarter.  We have a cousin from New York that was visiting and that made the trip there more special.  

From there I drove to my aunt's (mom's sister) house across town.  I haven't seen her since May.  We sat in her living room and talked for a few hours.  The baseball game was on (muted) and the Red Socks won.  I don't follow sports.  Even a muted television will draw my attention.  I'm glad I decided to stop by and she was around.  It was another good visit for today.

When I got home it was late enough that I decided to get into my pajamas.  In my rush to leave this morning there were some things on my bed.  I started to move them around and found my battery pack!  I have no idea how it got there.  I don't remember putting it there and can't figure out what it might have come out of to even make it upstairs.   I'm really glad I didn't go looking for it on Kearsarge North!

I wasn't able to get MapMyRun to work properly for our Friday hike to Cathedral Ledge.  I did for the rest of the weekend though.

Friday to where we camped.

Saturday leaving camp.

Kearsarge North.

☮

Currently listening to: The Silmarillion, by J. R. R. Tolkien. 

Thank you for being part of my happy things. Stay safe.